Have had my lightbulb moment

strawberryblonde

Hi

Have had my lightbulb moment today after an almost embarassing experience with a hotel bill.

The debts that we have are as follows;

Abbey Loan £3000 taken out over 4 years at 5.8%APR taken out in 05/02/07.

Lloyds TSB £3500 overdraft 11.8% EAR (This is on a platinum account which we are charged a monthly fee of £10)

Lloyds TSB Advance credit card 11.9 % APR £5714.00

Next £223.84 26.49%APR

The situation is fairly complicated as my hubby is returning to full time work tomorrow after being in FTE for 2 years.

His salary will be £18000
My salary is £8400
Benefits 120 Child Benefit
Tax credit presently £72 per week but will probbaly reduce to about £9 per week.

I estimate that our total net monthly income will be £1917.

Our current outgoings are

Mortgage £666.99
Council Tax £ 145
Gas and electric £54.50
Phone £ 20
Mobile phones £42
Pet insurance £20.50
Car Insurances £47.14
Abbey Loan £69.98
Credit card minimum payment 2 % currently £114
Current account fee £10
Interest on overdraft (varies) £7.12 last month
Broadband £17.99
Sky £21
Contents Insurance £ 7.54
Buildings Insurance £11.18
Life Insurance (mine) £68.71
Life Insurance ( hubby) £90.52
Hire of washing machine and tumble dryer £20
Gym fee £19.00 ( husband uses 3 times per week for health reasons so non-negotiable!)
Charity Donations £12.51
TV Licence £11.37
Flute lessons for daughter £ 65.00
Water rates £30
Food (estimate) £300
Petrol £ 180
Pocket Money for kids £35

Total £2087.05


We have no savings and any outings, car bills, holidays, etc are paid for on credit cards.

I would really appreciate some help in how we go about clearing our debts in the quickest and cheapest way.


Thanks in advance
Strawberry blonde

SarahNeedle1872

strawberryblonde wrote: »

Hi

Have had my lightbulb moment today after an almost embarassing experience with a hotel bill.

The debts that we have are as follows;

Abbey Loan £3000 taken out over 4 years at 5.8%APR taken out in 05/02/07.

Lloyds TSB £3500 overdraft 11.8% EAR (This is on a platinum account which we are charged a monthly fee of £10) try applying for the A7L account thru Quidco, they are doing an offer with 0% OD - not sure of the details

Lloyds TSB Advance credit card 11.9 % APR £5714.00

Next £223.84 26.49%APR

The situation is fairly complicated as my hubby is returning to full time work tomorrow after being in FTE for 2 years.

His salary will be £18000
My salary is £8400
Benefits 120 Child Benefit
Tax credit presently £72 per week but will probbaly reduce to about £9 per week.

I estimate that our total net monthly income will be £1917.

Our current outgoings are

Mortgage £666.99
Council Tax £ 145
Gas and electric £54.50
Phone £ 20 Can u get this cheaper? Mine is £11pcm
Mobile phones £42 Can u reduce contract/go PAYG
Pet insurance £20.50
Car Insurances £47.14
Abbey Loan £69.98
Credit card minimum payment 2 % currently £114
Current account fee £10 Ditch! See above
Interest on overdraft (varies) £7.12 last month
Broadband £17.99
Sky £21
Contents Insurance £ 7.54
Buildings Insurance £11.18
Life Insurance (mine) £68.71
Life Insurance ( hubby) £90.52 Insurances seem high, are these the cheapest u can get?
Hire of washing machine and tumble dryer £20
Gym fee £19.00 ( husband uses 3 times per week for health reasons so non-negotiable!)
Charity Donations £12.51 Gonna have to ditch as u can't afford it
TV Licence £11.37
Flute lessons for daughter £ 65.00
Water rates £30
Food (estimate) £300 How many is this for? Seems high. Go over to Old Style Money Saving for some ideas, should get it down to approx £200
Petrol £ 180 This is high!
Pocket Money for kids £35

Total £2087.05


We have no savings and any outings, car bills, holidays, etc are paid for on credit cards.

I would really appreciate some help in how we go about clearing our debts in the quickest and cheapest way.


Thanks in advance
Strawberry blonde

Hi SB and welcome to MSE.... well done for making the first step, which is posting here! I've added a few comments above, and I'm sure others will follow suit.

A couple of other things.... you have no amount for water.... make sure your utilities are the cheapest.... sign up to all the cash back sites/survey sites/ Mystery shopping sites to help boost your income. Allso do you have things u can sell on eBay/Amazon/Car boot sales?

You mentioned your drop in TCs - check https://www.entitledto.co.uk to see if they actually will change...

Are u able to get any 0% or Life of Balance credit cards to save money on interst payments? Definatley loose Next first as the rate is crazy.

That's a few bits for now, hopefully more people will be along soon too.

Stick with the site, it's mega

Sarah x

Midnight_Sky_2

Hi Strawberryblone and welcome,

I'm not great at SOA's but there will be others along in a minute who will be able to offer more advice. In the meantime here are a couple of suggestions -

Sky £21 - can you get rid of Sky for the time being and get a freeview box?

Charity Donations £12.50 - you'll have to ditch this - you can always start again when you get yourself back on track.

Mobiles £42 - this seems high - can you get it down any.

Food £300 - this can definately come down - the Old Style board will give you some great hints and tips to reduce this.

Petrol £180 - can you bring this down - car share or public transport, or even walk if the journeys are not too far?

Just a few ideas to be going on with. Others will be along in a minute with more ideas.

Keep posting, you'll find lots of support and great ideas here!

Midnight x

blackangeluk

Hiya, I agree with everything that Sarah says. Re life insurance, there is an article on here from The God Martin about insurance and I have reduced my payments rapidly with these recommendations.

Also, re flute lessons - could you stop these until you are financially more stable. I know it's difficult with children, we have had to stop violin lessons for DD and paying into their savings - but unfortunately for us needs must!

I would stop the donations until you can afford them.

You will also be surprised how much food can be reduced with menu planning and careful shopping.

Also pocket money - not sure how old your children are and how flexible things are with them - whether you can reduce it or tell them you can't afford it??

To raise extra cash have you got anything you could ebay? Any DVDs/books you can put on amazon?

Can you get a 0% credit card and shift the card debts, esp Next. If not, try ringing up the credit card companies and see if they will reduce the interest rate. I did this and achieved it with everyone of them, I just pretended I was going to transfer my balance elsewhere.

Ditto re advice for A&L Bank Account, they will match your overdraft but only if you can show you are in credit for a few days of the month (I do stand to be corrected but I think this was the case for me). You could try and ask them to increase the OD if you did get it and then move the Next balance over.

Also have you checked that you are in the correct Council Tax Band?

Good luck!:T